SURJ Statement on Pulse Shooting

posted by Dara Silverman | 18150sc
June 13, 2016

Our Grief is not an Excuse for Racism

We are devastated with grief for the lives lost in the shooting at the Pulse Night Club’s Latin Night. In this moment of tremendous pain, we are outraged at the media fanning the flames of Islamophobia, and the whitewashing of the victims.

The same media outlets and talking heads that are pumping out anti-Muslim sentiment were using that same platform mere weeks ago to promote extreme anti-trans ideology and stereotypes of the queer community as "bathroom bills" and hate legislation were passing.

We call on the major news networks to join Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ) to act against simplistic attacks on Arabs, Muslims,South Asians and other marginalized groups.

When there is a loss in queer communities, we feel it very deeply. SURJ was founded and is led by queer people, with a deep commitment to queer and trans liberation. LGBTQ lives are precious, and often on the line. Anti queer and trans violence is a frightening reality, and it is most likely to impact queer and trans people of color, including Muslim, immigrant, Black and Latinx LGBTQ people.

We are heartbroken and grieving, but we will not be misled. Just as we are committed to ending homophobic and transphobic violence against our own communities, we will be working side by side with our Muslim, Arab, Persian, South & East Asian neighbors to end Islamophobia. We will continue to align ourselves with the resilient organizing of immigrant and Latinx communities in the struggle against racism and deportations.

Responses that call for more policing in LGBTQ spaces only aggravate the targeting of the most marginalized among us- specifically Black Trans and Latinx Trans women, queers of color and poor and working class queers by law enforcement, the courts and the prison system.

The pain and heartache we feel in this moment will not drive us apart. Instead, it serves as a reminder as to how important our work for shared liberation from homophobia, transphobia, Islamophobia, white supremacy, and other forms of oppression.